So that the song
of the Tree of Music
will not go silent!

Welcome to the website of the African Blackwood Conservation Project
(ABCP). The aim of this project is to help replenish this valuable tree in Tanzania. Most
people will not have knowingly seen blackwood but almost everyone will have heard it, for
it is the premier wood of choice for fine concert-quality woodwind
instruments such as clarinets, oboes and flutes, as well as being used in the
manufacture of bagpipes. Blackwood is also the finest material available today for
producing ornamental turning. In its African homeland, it is used to
make intricate and highly detailed carvings, and plays a vital
role in the ecology of the East African savannah.

Planting trees is what the ABCP is all about, and here you can learn about what we do and how you can help. For starters, do your normal shopping at Amazon, but click on the Amazon Smile link at left and without any changes to your shopping choices or prices, you will be giving a donation to the ABCP at the same time, courtesy of Amazon's generous support of non-profit organizations like ours. You may also support the ABCP by giving a gift of trees planted through the Good Gifts Catalogue, or donate using PayPal.

Sebastian Chuwa, co-founder of the ABCP, passed away on 8 April 2014. His death was sudden and unexpected as he succumbed to complications after suffering a stroke. Sebastian will be sorely missed by his family and by those who loved and worked with him in the conservation work so dear to his heart. We have posted online a CV/Bio and Obituary on Sebastian's profile page. His wife, Elizabeth, and her brother, Dismas Macha, will carry on his work as co-directors of the project in Tanzania. More about Sebastian's life and this transition in the leadership of the ABCP can be found in the 2014 ABCP Newsletter.

This website documents our efforts to perpetuate this
remarkable natural resource in supporting the work of Tanzanian botanist and
conservationist, Sebastian Chuwa. Despite its importance as a world timber there have been
few conservation efforts to replenish the species. Although it is not yet on the
endangered list the ABCP is taking efforts now to help assure that eventuality will not
occur. To learn more about the wood, its homeland, this project, the people who are trying
to make it happen and how you can help, click on the links in the banner above or the sitemap below. You may also search this site
for specific terms. The ABCP also replants other African trees, such as coffee, mahogany,
and camphor, as well as its flagship species, African blackwood.

The Plant
for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign is a worldwide tree planting initiative
facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme. The campaign strongly encourages
the planting of indigenous trees and trees that are appropriate to the local environment.
Sebastian Chuwa's tree planting efforts in Tanzania now total 3.3 million various tree
species, including over 1 million mpingos planted, as documented here.

To see a photo slide show documenting the 2006 trip to Tanzania by the
US ABCP team, including wildlife safari photos and photos of ABCP activitities, click here.

Contributions from the Good Gifts Catalogue are
funding Mpingo planting at Makuyuni, on the eastern highlands below Mount Kilimanjaro. In
the photo ar right, Kibo and Mwenza peaks are visible in the background in this view from
the site. Workers first cleared a plot of acacia thorn bushes and then planted 12,000
mpingo seedlings, and they are shown weeding the plot. Read more about Good Gifts on the ABCP website here, including a photo slide show of the Makuyuni Project.